John McDonnell MP, Labour’s Shadow
Chancellor, responding
to the analysis today by the IFS, said:
“The analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies has today exposed the
appalling failure of seven years of this Government’s austerity economics and
its grim consequences for working people.
“Seven years of austerity has not only blighted lives and plunged our public
services into crisis, it has also trashed productivity growth and dragged down
living standards.
“The NHS faces its toughest ever decade, whilst the IFS expects those on
average earnings to be around £1,400 a year worse off by 2021, with workers
facing two decades without earnings growth.
“The Tories are overseeing the worst economic growth of any comparable G7
country, while the outlook for real wages and salaries looks dire for
generations to come.
“The IFS has also lifted the lid on Philip Hammond’s attempt to fiddle the
figures, exposing his failed attempts to meet his own targets and admitting his
chances of balancing the budget are ‘remote’. This means austerity is still top
of the Tory agenda and looks set to continue well into the next decade.
"The confirmation that the stamp duty cut will in fact increase house
prices, helping sellers and pricing some people, including first-time buyers,
out of the market, will come as a major disappointment to many hoping to get
onto the housing ladder.
“This is a government and an economic policy that has completely failed by any
conventional standard, they can serve no further purpose in office. Labour
stands ready to govern in the interests of the many, not the few.”
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